If You Dare (Dare #3) — Chapter no 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

DEKE

I STAND IN the kitchen staring down at my phone as it rings in my hand.

Becky lights up the screen. I press ignore. And what I now see isn’t any better. It’s Demi’s message.

Demi: That you took my virginity. In her bed.

I blink and read it again.

No!

She was a virgin? That can’t be … but I know it’s the truth. I felt it. She was too tight. It had been a long time since I’d slept with a virgin, but you never forget what it’s like. It was too good. She felt too unbelievable. I almost had myself convinced yesterday that it was the alcohol. I was drunk and the liquor had enhanced what we did. What I felt.

I should have known!

“What’s up with you?” Cole asks, entering the kitchen.

“I fucked Demi,” I say more to myself than him.

He nods. “I was there.” He takes a drink of his coffee.

“In Becky’s bed.” He spits out said coffee. It dribbles down his chin and onto his shirt. I feel it land on my arm, but I ignore it. “And she was a

virgin.”

“What the fuck?” I hear from behind me.

I turn to see Austin now standing with us. Her eyes are wide, and her hands on her narrow hips.

“I … I didn’t know …” I stumble over my words. Almost fucking speechless. My thoughts a mess. She was a virgin. I took her virginity. I shouldn’t feel proud about that because she tricked me, but I do. I fucked her first, before any other man. Why? Why would she give that to me? She hates me.

“You didn’t know?” she asks me skeptically.

I just shake my head. That’s usually the first thing a girl tells you when she’s throwing herself at you. Hell, I’ve had girls tell me they’re virgins

when I knew they weren’t. They never lie about not being one. That’s just another thing about Demi that I’m starting to like. She’s unpredictable.

She runs her hand through her dark hair. “Does Becky know?”

I nod.

Her lips thin, and she steps into me. “Was this part of your game?”

Was it? I wanted her, yes. Would knowing she was a virgin have stopped me? Probably not. But I would have done it differently had I known.

“No.” Cole answers her question when I don’t.

“Did you know this?” she snaps at him.

He nods. “I thought it was odd that he was in Becky’s room, though.”

That’s why he looked at me strangely when I exited the bedroom. He knew I was on the wrong side of the balcony. I was too wrapped up in Demi and my dick to think about it. I would have fucked her in the laundry room if that was where she had taken me.

“I can’t believe this.” She growls. “This is beyond fucked up, Deke.”

“I didn’t know,” I repeat.

My phone rings again, and I hit ignore, not wanting to talk to Becky. I don’t have to explain myself. I’m single and can do whoever I want.

Seconds later, another cell rings, and Austin pulls hers out of her pocket.

She sighs and hits answer. “Hello?” Her eyes narrow on me. “I’m so sorry.”

She spins around, walking out of the kitchen. Letting me know that Becky has given up and called her best friend.

“She set you up.” Cole speaks my thoughts.

I nod. “Seems so.” She planned on me fucking her in her sister’s bed. She wanted to rub it in her face. But how did Becky find out? Did she text her, and Becky just believed it? I’m not sure, but I’m not going to ask Becky

how she found out.

“Again,” he adds.

I grind my teeth and glare at him. “Why do you feel the need to state the

obvious?”

He shrugs. “Surprised is all.”

“And what shall I do about that?” I ask, arching a brow.

He chuckles. “Whatever the fuck you want.”

DEMI

I lie on my bed doing homework and listening to music. “Nightmare” by Halsey plays softly in my room. My phone vibrates, and I ignore it. That’s what I’ve done all day. Deke and Becky could have messaged me a hundred times, and I wouldn’t know.

A knock comes on my door. “Go away,” I call out. If it was my sister, she’d just charge right in, so it’s either my mother or Isabella, and I don’t want to speak to either of them.

The door opens, and I sit up when I see it’s Austin.

This can’t be good.

“Hope you don’t mind. Your housekeeper said you were up here. May I come in?” she asks, standing in the doorway.

I wasn’t able to get rid of Isabella for long. After my sister found out what I had done, she called our mother and told her that I trashed the house over the weekend. So my mother called Isabella and told her to get back to our house and clean it. Thankfully, Isabella didn’t rat me out and tell my mother that I paid her to stay away. She kept the cash I gave her and her mouth shut.

I cross my arms over my chest. “Depends. Are you here on behalf of Becky or Deke?” Neither one matters.

She sighs heavily. “I’m here for you, Demi.”

“I’m not sure what that means.”

Without asking again or waiting for permission, she enters my room and closes the door behind her. She sits down on the edge of my bed and tilts her head while she looks me over. She frowns when her eyes run over the faint marks left by Deke. They’re fading, but I don’t wear much makeup, so you can still very much make them out.

“I’m not in the mood for a lecture,” I tell her. I’m not sure which one told her what I did with Deke, but it doesn’t matter. It’s done.

“I’m just worried—”

I laugh, cutting off her words. “About Becky? She’s a big girl. She can handle herself. Trust me.”

“No.” She reaches out and pats my leg gently. “About you.”

Austin has always been nice to me. I didn’t get to see her much back in Collins. She didn’t come around my father’s house very often, but when she was there, she would go out of her way to say hello to me or ask how my day was going, but she never invited me out with them. At the time, I thought it was because Becky filled her head full of lies and made her hate

me. Now I know it was because Austin was dealing with her own demons

—the GWS.

“Why would you be worried about me?”

She runs a hand through her dark hair. “I don’t know what kind of game Deke is playing with you, but I’ve been a part of a game before, and it would have been nice to have someone on my side.”

I look down at my hands sitting on my lap, unable to meet her eyes. I already know what she went through. And I hate that my sister wasn’t there to help her. She was too wrapped up in Deke to see what was really going on. Or maybe she did and just didn’t care.

“I’m nothing like her,” I find myself saying.

“I didn’t say you were.”

My eyes meet hers, and she gives me a soft smile. I highly doubt she knows what Becky is really like. No one does. No one among the living anyway.

“I’m not here to judge you, Demi. I only came here in case you needed to

talk to someone.”

I snort. “And to go tell my sister.”

“No.” She shakes her head quickly. “I want to be your friend. And to me that means something. I would never betray your trust.”

I fist my hands. “Then you’re here for Deke.”

“No, Demi—”

“I don’t believe you, Austin,” I shout, interrupting her.

Silence follows my outburst, and she nods her head once before standing.

She turns to leave, and I look down at my backpack next to my bed. It’s open, and the top of her journal peeks out.

“Wait,” I call out.

She comes to a stop and turns to face me. I reach down, pick it up, and walk over to her. “I told you I’m nothing like her, and I mean that.” I hold out her journal. “This belongs to you. You should be the one to have it.”

Her green eyes widen when she looks down at it. Slowly, she takes it from my hand like it’s a grenade that can blow up any minute. “Where did you get this?” she asks clearing her throat.

“I found it.”

Her eyes snap up to mine. “What do you mean you found it?”

“I went looking in Becky’s closet for something to use against her, and it was in a box she brought with her from Collins.”

Her eyes drop back down to it, and she grips it tightly.

“I read it,” I admit.

When she just stares at it with terror in her eyes, I feel bad for giving it to her. I should have just thrown it away. I’m sure she wants to forget many events in there. Cole may have fallen in love with her in the end, but there’s more than just him and the sharks in there. There’s a lot of Phillip—her mom’s boyfriend. He touched her. Hit her. And I have no doubt he would have done much harsher things if she hadn’t moved to her dad’s when she did.

I’m not going to apologize for reading it because I’m glad I did. It taught me a lot about Austin and helped me understand her more. Not only is the girl beautiful, but she’s fierce. No wonder Cole fell for her. What guy wouldn’t? I believe her when she says friendship means something to her.

And that she is loyal, but I’m just not sure she considers me a friend.

“I …”

The opening of my bedroom door cuts her off. She spins around to face it, and I look up to see my sister barge into my room. “You fucking bitch—”

“What the fuck were you doing with this?” Austin interrupts her. And the look on my sister’s face tells me all I need to know.

She’s fucked!